Zac Efron

Logan Simon

Intro Comp

Professor Waggoner

10/12/16

Zac Efron

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bMmVy6Pjoy4

               Actors and actresses play a major role in our daily lives, whether we want to admit it. From the things they say to their personality and way they appear, they have an effect on the rest of us. We develop a man crush or a woman crush with a particular actor/actress. For me, and probably many others, I would have to pick Zac Efron as my man crush. He’s not the most talented or popular actor, by any means, but he’s a pretty interesting guy. Off the set, his interviews are always filled with unique stories, and he’s not afraid to let the general public see inside his life.

               I decided to watch an interview with Zac Efron from 2007 when he appeared on Jimmy Kimmel’s show. After finishing the shooting of High School Musical 2, Zac was there to talk about the High School Musical movies, his personal life, and also the premiere of his new movie, Hairspray. Jimmy asks questions regarding all of the aforementioned topics, while also showing a scene from Hairspray. Jimmy makes a big deal when Zac announces that he finally moved out of his parents’ home and into his own apartment. This shows that Kimmel is shocked by his maturity.

               Jimmy Kimmel has been hosting his own late-night talk show for many, many years and has a pretty established following. His fans are adults of all ages who watch the show before they go to bed. There may be a few teenagers in that watch the show, but it’s primarily adults. Zac’s following, on the other hand, is almost exclusively teenagers, especially the girls. The target audience Zac was trying to reach with this interview would be people who would potentially go see Hairspray. Since Jimmy’s fans would be included in this potential movie-goers, I would say the target audience and who is watching doesn’t differ by much. Even Zac’s teenage fans who are watching the interview might go see the movie because he’s in it.

               The main thing I took away from this interview is that Zac is still just a normal guy. It should be noted that this interview was way before he reached his current celebrity status, so that helps with maintaining a normal life. He talks about how he just moved into his new apartment and the hot water ran out, something that happens to everyday people. At the same time, however, he’s on the show to help promote his movie. The talk about his personal life and his vacations are great, but when Jimmy showed the scene from Hairspray I knew the purpose of Zac appearing on the show was to promote the film. The release date for the new movie was only a couple days after the interview, so it was a last-chance effort to reach unaware audience members.

               As Jimmy Kimmel is a middle-aged man, a 19-year-old Zac Efron makes him look a lot older than he is. Jimmy constantly calls Zac “kid” and paints an image that would make you think that Zac is even younger than 19. Zac is basically just beginning his acting career, with High School Musical as his only big film before this interview, so he would probably want to be portrayed more professionally, not just as a cute kid. Since I was a teen when Zac was first making the High School Musical series, I was aware of this perception by the media. I knew all about the girls’ obsession with him and how he used that trilogy as a foundation to then receive bigger roles. Though this interview is over 9 years old, I found Zac to be even more likable after watching the interview.